BANGALORE, February 24, 2010: Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa on Wednesday conveyed to the Centre that the state's decision to allow mining in certain reserved forests was subject to certain conditions, including permission from the Union Environment ministry.

He was responding to a letter written by Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh, who told the State government not to approve mining projects in forest areas without his Ministry's approval. Mr Yeddyurappa said that the State can only make recommendations to the Centre on mining projects and it can't take a decision on its own. “Clearance is left to the Centre; we don't have any right to clear mining projects” Mr Yeddyurappa said.

The state cabinet's decision to permit mining in certain reserved forests carries four conditions. The State Cabinet allowed mining in 14 blocks of Bellary, Shimoga and Mysore districts.

Yeddyurappa said necessary permissions under the Forest Act and environmental clearance from the Environment and Forests ministry had to be obtained. Besides, approval was necessary under the Mines Act and Rules and Mining lease proposals would be considered only in case of companies who would add value within the state like steel plants. Investment proposals had to be cleared by the High Level Clearance of the state in this industry, he said.

Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa, after a meeting with senior Ministers, told presspersons on Tuesday that the recent decision of the State Cabinet was not intended to promote exports but restricted to adding value to the iron-ore mined in the new areas. Exports fetch the State and the Union Governments only a small revenue by way of royalty compared with steel plants which will enable wealth generation and also provide employment to a large number of people.

Further, there is no proposal to approve mining in reserved forest areas or in the Bandipur Tiger reserve, the Chief Minster clarified.

Of a mining area of 813 sq km in Mysore district, 11 sq km come within the purview of the Bandipur forest reserve and there is no question of granting a licence in this region. Further, rules governing national parks and sanctuaries also state that there will be no major industry or mining within a radius of 25 km from a national park.

He said mining licences would be recommended for approval by the Centre subject to several conditions - value addition, clearance by the State high-level committee on investments, clearances from the Ministry of Environment and Forests, and that of the Union Government.

Mining in these blocks would be allowed if it is for value addition and creation of jobs, and if it is approved by the forest and environment departments, central government and high-level committee of the state, Home Minister V S Acharya told reporters after a cabinet meeting

Feb. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Bhushan Steel Ltd., an Indian maker of automotive steel, plans to spend 280 billion rupees ($6.1 billion) to set up a plant in the southern state of Karnataka to tap demand from carmakers.

The proposed plant will have capacity of 600,000 metric tons and be set up on a debt-to-equity ratio of 2:1, Neeraj Singal, managing director of the New Delhi-based company, said in a phone interview today without giving details.

Quote:

Bhushan hopes to start building the plant in the fiscal year starting April 1, 2011, and has approached the Karnataka state government mine ministry about procuring iron ore, Singal said when contacted on his mobile phone.

BELLARY: Farmers from Kuditini and Haraginadoni villages in Bellary taluk, whose lands have been identified for acquisition for a steel plant by ArcelorMittal, were unanimous in urging the Deputy Commissioner that the price of the land be fixed before beginning a survey of the land.

Participating in a meeting convened here on Tuesday by Deputy Commissioner B. Shivappa, who is the District-level Price Fixation Committee president, the farmers also opposed the setting up of residential layouts near the village, and asked for an assurance that the plant would be located at least 2 km away from the village.

They also drew the attention of the Deputy Commissioner that mutation of the land proposed for acquisition had not been done. Family members, after division, had been cultivating their share of lands, they said.

Mr. Shivappa told the farmers that he would convey the views of the farmers to the Government.

Later, he told presspersons that the Government had already issued a preliminary notification for the acquisition of the land.

The meeting had been convened to discuss some of the other issues related to the acquisition such as mutation, cultivation undertaken on government land, non-issue of pattas, the allotment of one site for each land loser in the company township, among others. Another meeting would be convened to discuss the matter in detail with the farmers, he said.

Bangalore: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has said that the Government will take necessary steps to permit the Kudremukh Iron Ore Company Ltd to undertake mining operations in 116.55 hectares of land at Hombala Ghatti and Hosahalli villages of Chikkanayakanahalli in Tumkur district.

Mr. Yeddyurappa told the Legislative Assembly that the Union Mining Ministry had granted permission for mining in two villages on June 12, 2008. But since the area falls under the forest region, the State had to obtain clearances from the Ministry for Environment and Forests.

KOLKATA, March 5 (Reuters) - India's top iron ore miner NMDC (NMDC.BO: Quote, Profile, Research) is planning to set up a 2-million tonne steel plant in the Southern Karnataka state with an estimated investment of 160-180 billion rupees ($3.5 billion-$3.9 billion), a senior company official said.

"The Karnataka state government has already allocated 2500 acres of land in the Bellary/Hospet area. We have also obtained the power and water connectivity for the plant," Joint General Manager N. Srinivasan told reporters on Friday.

The integrated plant would be state-run NMDC's second steel facility after the proposed 3-million tonne plant in the central Chhattisgarh state, expected to be operational by 2014, he added.

NMDC would look at a combination of debt and equity to fund the project, but the amount to be raised would be finalised after the completion of a detailed project report, he said.

The federal government plans to raise about $3 billion by selling an 8.38 percent stake in NMDC, bringing its public float in the company to 10 percent. It owns more than 98 percent in the firm.

The stake sale will open on March 10 and close on March 12.

The sale is part of the government's plan to offload stakes in 60 state-run firms over the next few years as it tries to raise funds for welfare programmes without stretching an already wide fiscal gap. ($1 = 45.6 rupees) (Reporting by Niladri Bhattacharya; editing by Malini Menon)

BANGALORE, March 6, 2010: National Mineral Development Corporation Limited, the largest iron ore producer by volume in India, would invest Rs 17,000 crore to set up steel plants in the country, its top official said on Friday.

We are looking at diversifying into steel making and power generation in a big way and will invest Rs 17,000 crore for establishing steel plants in the country, C Hanumanth Rao Joint General Manager (commercial), NMDC told reporters here.

Announcing NMDC Limited's FPO (Further Public Offer) which opens on March 10, he said, we plan to set up two steel plants with an annual capacity of 3 million tonnes each in Nagarnath in Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka in three years.

As part of horizontal expansion, NMDC Ltd would also set up a pellet plant in Donimalai (Karnataka) and Chhattisgarh, Rao said. The navaratna PSU, with total iron reserves of 1,212.7 million tonnes as on January 1,2010, would expand annual production capacity from 30 million tonnes to 50 million tonnes by 2015. NMDC is looking at developing three new mines, two in Chhattisgarh and one in Karnataka with an annual capacity of 7 million tonnes each, he said.

Kolkata, March 8 (IANS) Mining major National Mineral Development Corporation Limited (NMDC) is planning to set up a two million tonne per annum steel plant in Karnataka, a top company official said here Monday.

"The Karnataka state government has promised to allocate 2,500 acres of land for construction of a steel plant. This would be NMDC's second steel facility after the proposed three million tonne per annum steel plant in Chhattisgarh," N. Srinivasan, joint general manager (finance) of the company, said.

He said: "A consultant is to be appointed for the Karnataka steel plant for necessary techno economic feasibility. Other reports will be prepared after which construction will start.

"Any shortfall in the required investment may be raised by a combination of debt or equity based on the circumstances prevailing at that time."

Talking about the Chhattisgarh steel plant, the official added that the company is already in possession of 995 acres and permission from the state government has been obtained for drawing water and power required for the construction of the steel plant.

BANGALORE, INDIA--March 10, 2010--Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)--Leading Indian manufacturer of auto-grade steel Bhushan Steel Limited (BSE:500055) (New Delhi) plans to invest $6.1 billion to develop a value-added steel mill at Bellary in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Company officials from Bhushan Steel told Industrial Info that the proposed mill will have the capacity to produce 6 million tons per year of hot-rolled coil.

Karnataka has taken one more step towards facilitating ArcelorMittal’s efforts to set up their 6 million tonne per annum capacity steel plant in the state. The government has issued preliminary notification to acquire some 4,994 acres at Kudithini and Haraginadoni villages in Bellary district for the proposed steel plant.

Murugesh R Nirani, Karnataka minister for large and medium industries, announced at the state legislative council on Wednesday that Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) has issued a preliminary notification to the landholders on February 5 for the purpose. ArcelorMittal has sought close to 5,000 acres for their steel plant and 750 Mw power plant.

While, 4,000 acres would be given to the company for the steel plant, remaining land would go for setting up of ancilliary industries and their township, he said. The landholders in these villages have been issued notification under the section 28(2) of KIAD Act.

Some of the farmers have expressed certain objections and the state government would consider them during the public hearing, the minister said.

A team of officials from the company had informed the government of its choice of Kudithini last month for setting up the Rs 30,000 crore steel plant. This place is closer to Tungabhadra dam in Hospet, from where the required for the plant will be supplied. The state government has identified 300 hectares of iron ore mine for the company in Bellary district.

ArcelorMittal is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with the state government during the forthcoming global investors’ meet on June 3, 2010. The high-level clearance committee (HLCC), headed by the chief minister had cleared ArcelorMittal proposal in January.

Industry Minister Murugesh Nirani said on Wednesday that the Government tried to persuade ArcelorMittal to set their steel plant in Bijapur or Koppal, but gave in to the steel giant’s demand for land in Bellary.

“We requested the technical committee of ArcelorMittal to select either of Bijapur or Bagalkot. But they chose Bellary. Considering the reputation of the company, the government did not want to miss the opportunity and notified the land in Bellary”, he told the Legislative Council.

The Council witnessed strong criticism by the Opposition to the government’s move to allot 4,000 acres of land in Bellary to ArcelorMittal for setting up a steel plant.

A section of the members of the Congress and the JD(S) alleged that the government is providing facilities for the investor at the cost of public inconvenience. Congress member K C Kondaiah said seven steel plants were already functioning in Bellary and Koppal districts. In the next 10 years, the collective capacity of steel plants will go up to 20 million tonnes a year. A power plant had already been established. Supply of raw material to all these industries would be a difficult task in the coming years.

The heavy concentration of industries at one place would increase pressure on road infrastructure. It would be better if the ArcelorMittal’s plant is shifted to either Chitradurga or Tumkur where iron ore is available, Kondaiah said.

Minister for Industries Murugesh Nirani defended the government’s move. He said ArcelorMittal was a globally renowned industrial house. Its entry would help the state to attract investments from other global corporates.

He said, the State government was aware that heavy concentration of industries would pose serious challenges in future.

Lighting products maker Surya Roshni plans to set up a steel plant in Karnataka and double the capacity in the sector from 25 lakh units to 50 lakh units each year.

"We are planning to set up a steel plant in Karnataka. It is in planning phase. Investment and tonnage capacity is being worked out," Executive Director Surya Roshni Utkarsh Dwivedi told reporters here today.

He said the company also intends to expand infrastructure in sectors like cement, power and PVC pipes in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

He further said that a highmast street light would also be manufactured at Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh.

Recently, Surya Group has undertaken expansion of 550 crore mainly in steel pipes for water, oil and gas and also for lighting which is expected to generate employment for 6,000 more people, Dwivedi said.

Tata Steel (BSE:500470) on Thursday said it plans some investments in Karnataka's in Haveri district where the group has also taken up relief measures for the people ravaged by the recent floods.

"Tata Steel has a major investment proposal for Haveri district. This would create employment opportunities for the youth and generate additional revenues for the state," a company release, quoting its managing director HM Nerurkar said here on Thursday. The group did not, however, elaborate on the financial details of the proposed investment.

The Tata Relief Committee, the salt-to software conglomerate's welfare arm, is building 144 houses for those affected by the recent floods at Mannur village of Haveri district. The project also includes setting up a school and primary health centre.

The foundation stone for the project was laid by chief minister YS Yeddyurappa, the statement said.

ArcelorMittal's investment plans in Karnataka are on in full swing, sources told CNBC-TV18. The steel behemoth plans to set up a 6 mtpa plant at a total investment of Rs 60,000 crore in Karnataka.

The Karnataka government is likely to transfer land to the company by June. It is likely to acquire nearly 5,000 acres, including 4,000 acres for the plant. The remaining 1,000 acres is to be equally divided for ancillary units and townships. The government has issued preliminary notification for the land acquisition.

It has deposited 40% of the land cost or Rs 60 crore with Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board (KIADB) in March. The government has identified land in Kudutini and Haraginadoni villages.

Tata Metaliks Ltd, a manufacturer and supplier of pig iron, has received the Karnataka government’s approval for its revised proposal to set up a 3 million tonne per annum (MTPA) iron and steel plant in two phases in Haveri district of North Karnataka.

The investment is estimated at Rs 6,101 crore, of which Rs 2,033 crore will be put in by the promoters and Rs 4,067.6 crore will be arranged through term loans. Currently, the company has a debt of Rs 300 crore. It operates five furnaces with an annual capacity of 650,000 tonnes.

“The company had earlier planned to establish an iron and steel plant of 700,000 tonne per annum at an investment of Rs 984 crore. However, they came up with a revised proposal to expand their capacity to 3 MTPA. The state high level clearance committee has approved the proposal with several incentives and tax concessions,” Murugesh R Nirani, minister for medium and large industries, Karnataka government, said.

He added the government has also agreed to give stamp duty exemption, electricity tax exemption for captive and power supply for 10 years from Karnataka Power Transmission Corporation Ltd, 50 per cent of the cost of an effluent treatment plant and 100 per cent of the cost of a water supply scheme.

In addition to this, the government has agreed to provide a soft loan at 1 per cent towards value-added tax for 10 years. Entry tax exemptions for 10 years on plant and machinery and all inputs, such as raw materials and consumables as well as exemption of royalty on water, he said.

A Tata Metaliks spokesperson said: “We are happy that the Karnataka government has approved our proposal and our board will soon meet to work out the details of the project’s commencement date.”

The plant will be spread over an area of 900 acres in Ganajur, Devagiri and Yallapura villages of Haveri district. The state high level clearance committee has recommended to the Karnataka Industrial Area Development Board (KIADB) to acquire land on consent basis from the lawful land owners with a condition to submit consents for minimum 70 per cent of total extent of land proposed for the project to KIADB before it initiates acquisition.

The project will draw 56 MLD (million litres per day) of water from Tungabhadra and Varada rivers. The state has also sanctioned 166 MVA of power required for the project.

Apart from these concessions and incentives, the company has sought some other incentives from the state government, like grant of a captive iron ore mine with a mineable reserve of 320 million tonnes, railway siding facility, right of way for water pipeline and power transmission, a road up to the plant site, a railway line between Kotturu and Harihar and berthing facility at Karwar and Mangalore ports.

“We will provide all possible incentives as per the state’s industrial policy in order to help the company set up their plant,” Nirani added.

For the year 2008-09, Tata Metaliks reported a turnover of Rs 1,106 crore and a loss of Rs 149 crore due to currency fluctuations and a pile up of inventory. During 2009-10, it projected a growth of 66 per cent in its top line and a net profit of Rs 100 crore.

Nirani said the world’s largest steel manufacturer Arcelor Mittal has recently deposited Rs 60 crore to the State Government as an initial cost for land acquisition for its proposed Steel Plant in Bellary. The land acquisition process has already begun. Preliminary notification has been issued. The company has plans to set up its steel plant at Toranagal in Bellary district, he added.

Leading steel-maker JSW Steel plans to expand the steel manufacturing capacity at its Bellary plant in Karnataka at an investment of $5-6 billion, a top company official said.

"We have decided to expand steel manufacturing capacity at our Bellary plant from 10 million tonnes to 16 million tonnes at an investment of $5-6 billion (around Rs 20,000-25,000-crore) in the next three-years," JSW Steel's Vice-Chairman and Managing Director, Sajjan Jindal, told reporters on the sidelines of an event here.

"We are also looking at investing in infrastructure to develop roads, railways and power plants at our Bellary unit," Jindal said, adding that the company is currently working on the details of these investments.

"We have already invested close to Rs 40,000-crore in the Bellary plant and will continue to invest in Karnataka due to the proactive policy of the Karnataka Government," he said.

"Our investment in Karnataka is the largest compared to other units," he said.

"The upcoming ports and extensive railway networks will help industries to grow in the state. The new mineral policy by the Karnataka Government is also a positive initiative," he said.

CHICKBALLAPUR: Hutti Gold Mines Company Ltd. (HGML) has taken up a detailed survey to ascertain the extent of gold deposits in a village in Bagepalli taluk of Chickballapur district.

The survey was undertaken after preliminary laboratory analysis reports, two months ago, had indicated the presence of gold in the soil samples collected from Kapuchinnapalli village in Bagepalli taluk.

Sources in the Department of Mines and Geology told The Hindu here on Thursday that a team of scientists from HGML in Raichur district recently visited Kapuchinapalli for the survey. The team collected 72 soil and rock samples from an area spread over 1sq.km. in the vicinity of the village. The detailed survey would ascertain the origin, the extent and the quality of the gold available in the particular belt to confirm whether it would be economically viable to take up gold mining in the area, sources said.

Sensitive issue

HGML, sources said, had decided to keep its findings confidential as the matter was a sensitive one. The Department of Mines and Geology was also awaiting a report from the Indian Bureau of Mines (IBM).

After the preliminary soil sample analysis conducted at the Department of Mines and Geology laboratory in Bangalore, the samples were sent for further tests to the IBM and HGML.

Gold content was found in the soil samples collected from land bearing survey number 141/4 in Kapuchinnapalli, situated six km northeast of Bagepalli town on Guloor Road. The said land belongs to Byra Reddy, a marginal farmer. The possible presence of gold in the soil came to light in December last after bricks burnt at Byra Reddy's kiln glittered. The farmer found that the physical features of the soil were unusual, and he took soil samples to the Department of Mines and Geology in Chickballapur for testing.

Kapuchinnapalli, which was part of the erstwhile undivided Kolar district, is situated around 120 km north of Kolar Gold Fields (KGF). Bharat Gold Mines Ltd., which had gold mines at KGF, closed operations in April 2000.

The Hindu
Jogada siri Belakinali.........Nityotsava Nityotsava Rightly said Karnataka is back again with Gold.

__________________LOVE INDIA SERVE INDIA

Fact of the week:BEML rolls out country’s biggest dump truck-Indigenously designed & developed by BEML MYSORE

Staff Correspondent
A file photo of the cold rolling mill complex at JSW Steel at Tornagal in Bellary district.

TORNAGAL (BELLARY DISTRICT): Steel major JSW in Tornagal in Bellary district, which is on an expansion spree, has drawn up plans to produce 16 million tonnes of steel per annum.

Giving this information to The Hindu here on Monday, Vinod Nowal, Chief Executive Officer of JSW, said that the present production was around seven million tonnes per annum and work to increase production to 10 million tonnes was on in full swing.

“We plan to achieve 10 million tonnes by March 2011. In addition, we have planned to take up the expansion programme to produce around 16 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) for which we have obtained clearance from the State High Level Committee,” he said.

The JSW has invested around Rs. 40,000 crore for an eco-friendly integrated steel plant that has come up on 7,000 acres of land.

An estimated Rs. 10,000 crore was being pumped in to increase production to 10 million tonnes. An additional Rs. 25,000 crore would be invested to take the annual production of steel to 16 million tonnes per annum, he said. Dr. Nowal said that JSW ranked eighth among the 32 steel plants in the world surveyed by the World Steel Dynamics keeping in view 23 parameters.

Dr. Nowal also said that JSW was the only steel plant which was using low grade (56 to 58) iron ore available here for producing steel. According to him, JSW had adopted a new technology to make use of low grade ore, through beneficiation and mixing it with high grade (63 plus) ore that would help expand the life of mines in the district by at least three folds going by the present rate of extraction (38 million tonnes during the year 2009-10).

JSW has planned to create awareness among the mine owners to extract all grades of ore and the company was ready to procure them.

With regard to water requirement for its expansion programme, Dr. Nowal said that in addition to the 32 million gallons per day (mgd) from the Tungabhadra Dam, the State Government had allotted 40 mgd from the river Krishna at Alamatti.

The work of laying the 180-km pipeline to draw water, at an estimated cost of Rs. 800 crore, was in progress. It was expected to be completed in June/July this year.

A technical team from South Korean steel major Posco would visit Karnataka soon for exploring mining linkages to its proposed Rs 32,300 crore steel plant in the state.

A Karnataka delegation, led by Minister for Large and Medium scale Industries, Murugesh R Nirani, met top management executives of Posco at the company headquarters in Seoul, an official statement said here today.

"They (the executives) expressed their happiness for having approved the projects for establishment of six million tons per annum integrated steel plant with finex technology in Karnataka with investment of Rs 32,300 crore," it said.

They held discussions on the investment plan and mining lease for their unit, and informed that they would be sending a technical team to Karnataka for exploring mining linkages.

The minister assured the company all support from Karnataka government for establishing their plant.

The delegation is in Seoul as part of Karnataka's roadshow for the Global Investors' Meet to be held here on June 3 and 4.

BELLARY: JSW, a steel major having a multi-crore mega integrated steel plant in Tornagal in Bellary district, has volunteered to lay three new rail lines on private-public partnership (PPP) model in the district to minimise the dependence on road for movement of iron ore.

A proposal has been sent to the Railways and also to the State Government for approval, according to Vinod Nowal, Chief Executive Officer of JSW.

The three new rail lines proposed are between Sushilnagar and Bannihatti (one of the loading points), Kumarswamy, Nandihalli and Bannihatti and Daroji and Swamyhalli.

Sandur and Hospet taluks in Bellary district have rich deposits of high-grade iron ore. Lakhs of tonnes of ore from the region is being transported to various parts of the country by rail and also by road.

As the bulk of ore is transported by lorries, roads in Sandur and also in other parts of the district have been severely damaged. The dust pollution has led to health hazards and there has been an increase rise in the number of road accidents.

“If the three new rail lines are laid, it would help minimise the dependence on road for transportation of ore. It will help prevent damage to roads while bringing down the level of pollution, besides saving diesel. With this in mind, we have sent a proposal to the Railways and the State Government,” he said.

JSW has also come forward to improve a stretch of the State Highway No 40 between Kudligi-Tornagal, including the bypass to Sandur, the National Highway 63 between Hospet (including the bypass) and Bellary.

It has proposed to lay a new road from Bannihatti to Sultanpur, linking the National Highway 63 near Bellary Thermal Power Plant (BTPS) on private-public partnership model.